Point of Review: Percy Jackson

***DISCLAIMER: THIS REVIEW IS OVER THE PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS SERIES AS A WHOLE. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. IF YOU HAVEN’T READ ANY OR ALL OF THESE 5 BOOKS, PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION.***

Many people have heard of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians book series. It’s loved all over the world and was so successful that it spawned two sequel series: The Heroes of Olympus series and The Trials of Apollo series, respectively. In honor of the upcoming Disney+ TV series that is in production, I’m going to be reviewing the series and talking about the topics in it.

Overview and Summary:

The Percy Jackson and the Olympians books are a Greek-Mythology-based series that focuses on our title protagonist: Perseus “Percy” Jackson, and his two best friends, Annabeth Chase, and Grover Underwood. Percy and Annabeth are demigods, with one of their parents being mortal and the other a Greek God. Percy is the son of Poseidon: the God of the sea, horses, and earthquakes. Annabeth is the daughter of Athena: goddess of wisdom, warcraft, and weaving. Grover is a satyr: a half-goat, half-human that is a spirit of the wild.

They go to a refuge for people of Greek Mythological descent called Camp Half-Blood, which is like any other summer camp, except the directors are a centaur named Chiron and Dionysus, the God of Wine.

Together, the trio goes on quests for the gods. From getting Zeus’ lightning bolt to finding their way through the infamous Labyrinth, our heroes never seem to catch a break. However, it goes deeper than that.

Underneath all these quests our trio goes on, a war is brewing. Kronos: the titan of time, and the father of Poseidon, Zeus, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia, is planning to revolt against the gods in the Second Titan War. He wants to reclaim his place as ruler of the cosmos with his brothers and sisters and will stop at nothing to do so, even if it includes killing every demigod to exist. What’s even worse is that the demigod that is destined to defeat Kronos is a child of one of the Big Three: Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades. The only demigod that is fully qualified for these requirements? You guessed it, Percy Jackson.

As he grapples with his destiny and being one of the most powerful demigods to live in years, Percy learns a lot of life lessons along the way, including dealing with grief, societal issues, and maybe some love here and there.

Rating: 4.8/5

This book series was an absolute dream come true. It introduced me to accurate Greek Mythology (Ahem, Wonder Woman, and Hercules) and was chock-full of jokes, sarcasm, and adventures. It pulled me into a fandom that wasn’t only amazingly weird and beautiful but was supportive and positive all the way. It changed my perspective on different people and topics and taught me how to see all sides of the same figure. If anything, it helped me find myself and see more of who I was and whisked me into a fantasy world that I could only dream of before.

The one thing I love the most about this series is the representation, both of ADHD and Dyslexic kids and other topics such as grief, doubt, and character. Almost, if not all, the demigods at Camp Half-Blood are ADHD and Dyslexic, with their ADHD giving them heightened battle reflexes and Dyslexia making their brains hard-wired for Ancient Greek writing. Rick Riordan got this idea after his son, Haley, was diagnosed with both of these, and when he was telling his son the story of Percy Jackson, a heroic 12-year-old demigod, he made sure that our favorite son of Poseidon had these same conditions too.

There is some limited racial representation, but it can be seen with minor characters, such as Charles Beckendorf and Ethan Nakamura. This was one of the first fantasy books I read where not every single character I saw on the page was white. Percy himself is described as having a Mediterranean complexion, and with a Greek father, he himself could be considered a person of color. If anything, it was quite refreshing to read and see people of varying races. However, because it is limited, and only minor characters being canonically POC*, the rating lost 0.2 stars. Otherwise, the series was an extremely enjoyable read**.

There are some deaths in the book series, and Rick Riordan is great at showing grief and coping. Lots of these characters go through extremely traumatic experiences, and while we can’t necessarily relate to our friend being crushed by a giant robot, we can still relate to how Percy and everyone else in his universe reacts to a terrible experience.

By now, if you haven’t read the books, what are you waiting for? Go to your local bookstore, library, or eBook service, and start reading.

And please, for the love of gods, please don’t watch the movies as a substitute.

*POC stands for Person/People Of Color.

**However, if this gets you down, don’t worry; the Heroes of Olympus (the sequel series to PJO) has a lot more diversity, including Asian Americans, African Americans, Latino/Hispanics, and Native Americans, which makes it one of the first series with a lot of diversity.